USB

Hi new to Linux cnc.

Simple question from my first posting.
Can Linux cnc can USB be used with Linux cnc I instead of DB 25 port.
I have been using Mach for some years but want to change over to Linux cnc mainly because of the screw-cutting problems with Mach.

I look forward to any replies.

Reggie

No. LinuxCNC relies on a deterministic real-time link between the controller (LinuxCNC) and the hardware.
USB is not real-time (fast is not the same as real-time) so can't be used without offloading the machine control to the USB device.
(The Mach3 / Smoothstepper combo does this, the actual control software is on the Smoothstepper board)

There are, however, alternatives to the parallel port supported by LinuxCNC. A variety of PCI (and even ISA cards) are supported and also systems using Ethernet, EtherCAT, Modbus. There are also some systems that use the parallel port as a communications bus, rather than as individual pins and generate step-pulses (or servo motion) on an FPGA.

wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?LinuxCNC_Supported_Hardware

You can use a USB joystick to jog with but that's about all.

JT
www.mesaus.com

There are a few other things usb can be used for in Linuxcnc. Most anything user interface related can use it. It can also be used for other non-real-time critical things such as modbus control of a spindle VFD. But for control of axis motion, no, it isn't good enough.